THE  FEDERAL  COUNCIL 
OF  THE  CHURCHES  OF 
CHRIST  IN  AMERICA 


National  Office,  612  United  Charities  Building 
105  East  Twenty-Second  Street,  New  York 


PROF.  SHAILER  MATHEWS  - - President 

REV.  CHARLES  S.  MACFARLAND,  - - Secretary 


The  Church  and  Modern  Industry 

(This  report  with  appended  statement  and  recom- 
mendations was  unanimously  approved  and  adopted  by 
the  Federal  Council  at  its  meeting  in  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  December,  1908.) 

The  Churches  of  Christ  as  represented  in 
this  Federal  Council  accept  without  reserve 
and  assert  without  apology  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  are  one  in  Him  not  only  because  we  to- 
gether share  His  spirit,  but  because  we 
acknowledge  His  headship.  Wherever  the 
path  in  which  He  leads  crosses  other  high- 
ways, whether  marked  out  by  the  creeds  of 
commerce,  the  schools  of  philosophy,  the 
teachers  of  social  theory,  the  masters  of 
theology,  the  agitators  for  reform,  the  critics 
of  the  Church,  or  the  feet  of  the  multitude, 
1 


His  disciples  must  take  all  risks  and  follow 
Him.  Our  interpretations  of  His  teaching 
and  purpose  are,  doubtless,  with  growing  light 
and  new  conditions,  subject  to  review  and 
restatement,  but  no  such  modification  can 
force  or  allure  the  Church  to  surrender  the 
principle  of  His  absolute  authority  in  the  in- 
dividual heart  and  in  the  associated  life  of 
men.  He  charts  our  way.  He  commands  us. 

Christ’s  mission  is  not  merely  to  reform 
society,  but  to  save  it.  He  is  more  than  the' 
world’s  Re-adjustor.  He  is  its  Redeemer. 
The  changed  emphasis  put  upon  the  Lord’s 
prayer — “Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,”  must 
not  deceive  us.  The  prayer  for  the  coming  of 
the  Kingdom,  for  the  doing  of  the  will  of 
God  on  earth,  gets  its  point  from  the  fact  that 
there  is  a heaven  in  which  that  will  is  done — 
where  the  beatitudes  are  always  operative, 
and  justice  never  falters,  and  truth  excludes 
all  lies,  where  people  hunger  no  more,  neither 
thirst  any  more,  nor  say  they  are  sick — a city 
that  lieth  four-square.  It  will,  we  trust,  not 
confuse  the  urgent  cries  for  the  larger  activity 
of  the  Church  when  we  remind  ourselves  that 
the  Church  becomes  worthless  for  its  higher 
purpose  when  it  deals  with  conditions  and 
forgets  character,  relieves  misery  and  ignores 
sin,  pleads  for  justice  and  undervalues  for- 
giveness. 

Whatever  comparisons  may  be  made  be- 
tween the  Church  as  an  organization  for  hu- 
man betterment,  and  associations  for  charity, 
societies  for  reform,  fraternal  orders,  labor 
unions,  “movements”  for  social  advantage, 
saloons  as  social  clubs,  there  is  one  contrast 
which  never  may  be  forgotten — the  Church 
stands  forever  for  the  two-world  theory  of 
life.  Its  Kingdom  passes  beyond  the  horizon. 

2 


In  dealing  with  human  conditions  the  Church 
is  bound  to  take  the  viewpoint  of  Christ,  and 
from  that  viewpoint  are  ever  discernible  the 
world  that  now  is  and  that  which  is  to  come. 
The  Church’s  doors  open  upon  the  common 
levels  of  life.  They  should  never  be  closed. 
Its  windows  open  toward  the  skies.  Let  their 
light  not  be  darkened. 

With  Christ’s  example  before  us,  it  is  im- 
possible to  accept  a class  Gospel  or  to  deal 
with  society  on  a class  basis  except  as  the 
class  affords  the  opportunity  to  reach  men. 

As  the  authority  of  Christ  is  binding  upon 
men,  not  as  laborers  or  capitalists,  as  wise  or 
unlearned,  as  rich  or  poor,  so  comes  the  mes- 
sage of  the  Gospel  to  men  as  men,  not  as 
classified  by  the  exigencies  of  external  con- 
ditions or  the  operation  of  social  tendencies. 
The  authority  is  final  alike  at  the  council  table 
and  at  the  forge;  the  message  carries  equal 
appeal  to  the  man  who  gives  to  a common 
enterprise  his  muscle  and  to  him  who  gives 
to  it  his  mind.  To  present  a fragmentary 
Gospel  is  to  ignore  spiritual  values.  Every 
situation  in  life  produces  and  requires  peculiar 
obligations,  but  the  indwelling  Spirit  who  con- 
trols does  not  vary.  The  appeal  of  the  Gos- 
pel is  based  upon  the  inherent  worth  of  every 
man  in  God’s  sight. 

Rich  and  poor,  capitalist  and  laboring  man, 
are  not  classifications  and  distinctions  made 
by  the  Church  of  Christ;  they  are  natural  or 
artificial  groups,  existing  in  society.  Where 
such  terms  are  used  as  “laboring  classes,”  “in- 
dustrial workers,”  “employers,”  “capitalists,” 
they  should  be  regarded  as  descriptive,  not 
as  class  terms.  To  the  Church  there  are  but 
two  kinds  of  men — those  who  follow  Christ 
and  those  who  do  not. 


3 


“The  whole  idea  of  ‘laboring’  classes  seems 
fundamentally  abhorrent  to  the  Christian  con- 
ception of  life.  Jesus  came  to  make  a fellow- 
ship of  all  classes  by  annihilating  classes  ex- 
cept for  certain  superficial  workaday  ways  of 
getting  on  together.”  “The  Church  is  a bene- 
factor of  all  classes,  and  must  aim  to  establish 
a brotherhood  as  broad  as  human  life  and  ex- 
tending to  the  lowest  depths  of  human  want.” 

The  Church  is  not  an  end  in  itself.  It  is 
conservator  of  the  truth,  but  it  is  the  truth 
that  counts.  It  is  custodian  of  history,  but  it 
is  the  facts  preserved  by  it  that  become  cur- 
rent in  the  world’s  work.  It  is  the  represen- 
tative of  Christ,  but  it  is  ambassador,  and 
neither  king  nor  province.  In  it  the  Spirit 
abides,  that  into  all  humanity  He  may  find 
His  way.  Upon  it  rests  the  cross  of  Christ 
that  the  world  may  learn  His  law  of  love. 
Through  it  is  revealed  the  meaning  of  right- 
eousness, of  justice,  of  salvation,  not  for  its 
own  sake,  but  that  sinners  may  be  redeemed, 
and  that  these  ideals  may  be  worked  into  the 
lives  of  men  and  become  the  principles  of  the 
new  social  order.  The  pious  and  subtle  per- 
suasion that  the  Church  absorbs  the  attention 
of  its  Lord  and  narrows  to  itself  the  scope  of 
His  grace,  is  happily  a fading  belief.  The  re- 
luctant surrender  of  the  saints  of  the  cloister 
to  the  demands  of  the  Commonwealth  of  God 
fs  among  the  instructive  lessons  of  our  time. 

But  language,  strange  a quarter  of  a century 
ago,  is  now  familiar.  The  concepts  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Kingdom  have  become  de- 
tached from  each  other.  The  range  of  God’s 
human  interests  has  been  more  broadly  seen. 
The  services  of  the  Church  have  become  sub- 
ordinate to  the  Church’s  service  to  men.  God 
seeks  humanity.  The  Kingdom,  to  establish 
4 


which  the  Church  is  appointed  as  the  represen- 
tative of  Christ,  is  found  not  only  in  the 
Lord’s  prayer,  but  in  the  Lord’s  heart.  It  is 
this  change  of  emphasis  which  explains  the 
logic  of  events  and  gives  room  for  a new 
programme  of  the  Church  itself. 

We  are  here  as  representatives  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  Primarily  we  are  engaged  in  es- 
tablishing His  Kingdom  in  these  United 
States.  The  fundamental  principles  already 
emphasized  have  their  application  for  us  in 
this  land  of  free  institutions.  It  is  the  Church 
of  America  which  must  deal  with  the  social 
and  industrial  problems  of  America.  The 
workers  for  the  newer  ideals,  both  within  and 
without  the  churches,  will  not  fail,  we  believe, 
to  allow  these  peculiar  conditions  their  proper 
weight. 

The  industrial  problems  of  Great  Britain 
and  of  the  Continent  are  linked  with  ours, 
but  they  are  not  identical.  The  churches  of 
America  are  not  supported  even  in  part  by 
State  funds,  nor  are  they  under  State  control. 
When  one  looks  at  Government  here,  the 
Church  is  not  of  necessity  in  the  line  of  vision. 
There  is  no  ecclesiastical  factor  in  one’s  tax 
bill.  Functionaries  of  a religious  establish- 
ment do  not  sit,  as  such,  in  our  legislatures, 
and  political  vested  rights  do  not  control  paro- 
chial policy.  The  churches  are  dependent 
upon  the  free  will  of  the  people,  not  upon  the 
pleasure  of  the  Government,  and  policies  of 
restraint  or  direction  enacted  into  law  and 
administered  by  the  courts  cannot  be  credited 
to  or  charged  against  the  body  of  Christians 
as  in  the  lands  of  established  churches. 

This  distinction,  so  familiar  to  American 
freemen,  requires  the  constant  renewal  of  em- 
S 


phasis,  since  no  small  part  of  the  misunder- 
standing concerning  the  Church’s  relation  to 
industrial  life  in  our  country  springs  from  the 
fact  that  multitudes  born  under  the  shadow 
of  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  in  this  their 
new  home  impute  to  the  American  churches 
the  power,  the  prejudices  and  the  defects  of 
an  ecclesiastical  system  here,  by  an  impreg- 
nable constitutional  provision,  forever  ex- 
cluded. 

Inevitably,  also,  under  this  American  sys- 
tem, churches  become  independent  corpora- 
tions, acquire  property,  gain  or  lose  in 
changes  of  values,  borrow  and  loan  money, 
buy  materials  and  employ  labor.  Here  is  the 
demand  for  the  highest  business  skill  and  pru- 
dence. The  administration  of  the  affairs  of 
the  churches  involves  questions  of  expediency 
and  of  just  dealing  which  have  not  always 
been  settled  according  to  the  canons  of  the 
ideal  social  justice.  The  Church  as  an  owner 
and  an  employer  gravitates  naturally  toward 
the  position  where  men  of  business  experience 
and  ample  resources  come  into  leadership.  It 
is  not  strange  that  at  times  the  individual  atti- 
tude toward  industrial  conditions  is  inter- 
preted as  the  attitude  of  the  Church  itself. 
It  is  but  fair  that  the  distinction  should  be 
rigidly  observed.  There  is  the  utmost  signifi- 
cance in  the  tendency  at  the  present  time  to 
develop  in  the  churches  a democratic  adminis- 
tration. Popular  management  of  church  in- 
terests will  hasten  the  removal  of  miscon- 
structions of  existing  methods  and  motives. 
It  will  still  remain  true,  however,  that  the 
churches  must  be  supported  by  the  gifts  of  the 
people.  The  criticism  that  the  Church  con- 
cerns itself  overmuch  with  money  is,  in  the 
main,  possible  only  to  those  who  do  not  see 
6 


that,  as  an  institution,  with  a distinct  pro- 
gramme to  promote  and  definite  obligations  to 
discharge,  the  financial  question  belongs  to 
the  very  necessities  of  the  case.  Mainte- 
nance is  not  simple.  It  involves  grave  diffi- 
culties. Yet  practice  must  be  made  to  conform 
to  the  essential  standards  of  the  Gospel,  which 
are  themselves  the  highest  ideals  of  social 
righteousness.  Upon  this  basis  the  churches 
make  their  appeal  to  men  of  every  kind,  not 
asserting  the  perfection  of  their  methods,  but 
laying  claim  to  confidence  and  co-operation  as 
with  honest  purpose  they  seek  to  express  in 
this  complex  modern  life  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

It  may  be  noted,  further,  that  at  no  time 
have  the  disadvantages  of  the  sectarian  divi- 
sions of  the  Church  been  more  apparent  than 
when  the  call  has  come  for  a common  policy 
or  a united  utterance  concerning  such  problems 
as  modern  industry  now  presents.  The 
Protestant  churches  of  the  United  States  have 
had,  until  now,  no  authorized  common  ground. 
“Labor,”  “industrial  workers,”  “trades  unions,” 
have  discussed  the  attitude  of  “the  Church,” 

* and  the  whole  body  of  believers  has,  theo- 
retically, been  included.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
j the  “Church”  has  been  some  individual  organi- 
! zation,  some  one  of  the  denominations  or  some 
voluntary  assemblage,  non-representative  and 
without  authority.  For  such  concrete  expres- 
sions of  Christian  conviction  on  social  and  in- 
dustrial problems  as  “The  Church  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  the  Interests  of 
Labor”  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
|!  “The  Department  of  Church  and  Labor”  con- 
t nected  with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  “The  Methodist  Fed- 
eration for  Social  Service”  and  similar  move- 
7 


ments,  there  can  be  only  gratitude  and  praise. 
The  independent  associations  of  members  of 
Protestant  churches,  in  many  localities,  to 
study  industrial  conditions,  and  to  secure  their 
betterment,  are  welcome  evidences  of  the 
larger  social  purpose  of  the  churches.  But 
nowhere  has  there  been  formulation  of  prin- 
ciples, or  statement  of  aims  which  represents 
in  an  authoritative  sense  the  attitude  of 
American  Protestantism  toward  the  tremen- 
dous problems  of  our  industrial  and  social 
order.  It  may  be  permitted  to  express  the 
earnest  hope  that  without  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree compelling  the  surrender  of  individual 
or  denominational  independence,  this  Federal 
Council  may  find  some  method  for  bringing 
the  Protestant  Christianity  of  America  into 
relations  of  closer  sympathy  and  more  effec- 
tive helpfulness  with  the  toiling  millions  of 
our  land. 

A survey  of  the  social  and  industrial  con- 
ditions of  our  American  people  reveals  cer- 
tain indisputable  facts  which  should  be  can- 
didly stated. 

I.  There  is  an  estrangement  between  the 
Church  and  the  industrial  workers.  By  some, 
both  churchmen  and  workingmen,  this  es- 
trangement is  greatly  overstated,  by  others  it 
is  most  unwisely  minified.  At  times  local 
conditions  have  been  interpreted  in  universal 
terms.  The  tendency  of  the  group  has  been 
thought  characteristic  of  the  whole.  Partisan 
utterances  have  been  heard,  as  though  they 
were  the  voice  of  the  multitude.  It  would 
be  as  unfair  because  the  treasure  of  a national 
society  of  organized  labor  who  has  handled 
millions  of  money,  is  a respected  officer  in  a 
Christian  church,  to  say  that  the  Church  is 
regarded  without  criticism  or  cynicism  by 
8 


workingmen,  as  to  hold  that  because  soane 
other  labor  leader  is  a bitter  and  brawling 
atheist,  the  whole  labor  movement  is  hostile 
to  the  Christian  faith.  It  is  enough  to  note 
that  in  many  localities  the  tendencies  of  in- 
dustrial workers  do  not  draw  them  to  the 
doors  or  the  altars  of  the  churches. 

2.  There  is  a separation  betw'een  the  rich 
and  the  cultured  and  the  churches.  With 
equal  candor  this  fact  must  be  recognized. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  relatively  this  diver- 
gence is  more  marked  than  the  other.  The 
exactions  of  faith  upon  conduct,  in  a relaxed 
and  luxurious  social  life,  are  a test  which, 
while  it  sometimes  disastrously  modifies  the 
ethics  of  the  churches,  is  more  apt  to  result 
in  personal  definitions  of  duty  and  in  practice 
which  must  forever  be  repellent  to  the  code 
of  Jesus.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Church 
has  inadequately  dealt  with  the  problems  of 
the  poor,  and  has  not  always  been  the  guardian 
of  labor,  it  has  not  become  the  tool  of  the 
rich,  and  is  not  under  the  dominion  of  capital. 

I 3.  Industrial  progress  has,  it  may  be  ad- 
mitted, taken  the  Church  unawares.  Inven- 
tion and  discovery  havd  with  incredible  swift- 
ness modified  the  world’s  industry  and  almost 
with  violence  have  thrown  the  individual  into 
new  relations  with  the  social  order.  Machin- 
ery, facilities  for  transportation,  building 
methods,  commercial  exchange,  modes  of 
heating  and  lighting,  have  in  a generation 
created  a community  life,  to  which  the  thought 
of  the  Church  has  not  rapidly  adapted  itself. 
Christianity  has  created  a civilization  which 
it  is  now  its  first  task  to  inspire  and  direct. 
, It  has  produced  a social  crisis  in  which  its 
1 visions  must  concrete  themselves  into  prin- 
|l  ciples  of  action.  The  Church,  bewildered  amid 

5 9 


the  machinery  of  a mighty  civilization,  would 
be  as  sad  a sight  as  the  Church  lost  in  the 
wilderness.  “The  Church  does  not  stand  for 
the  present  social  order,  but  only  for  so  much 
of  it  as  accords  with  the  principles  laid  down 
by  Jesus  Christ.” 

Only  extremists  or  the  unobservant  will 
deny  that  the  churches  are  striving,  with  grow- 
ing moral  seriousness,  to  find  and  assert  the 
ideals  which,  if  reduced  to  practice,  would 
sweep  from  the  field  the  cause  of  class  es- 
trangement. Industrial  workers,  individually 
and  through  their  organized  forces,  are  recog- 
nizing, in  large  part,  the  value  of  these  very 
ideals,  and  in  promoting  them  are  coming  bet- 
ter to  appreciate  the  essential  aims  of  the 
Church  as  it  seeks  for  social  betterment.  The 
workingman,  caught  in  the  current  of  the 
new  industry,  and  the  Church,  arrested  in  its 
splendid  service  to  individual  life  by  the  con- 
fused appeal  of  the  community,  will  surely, 
step  by  step,  come  to  a common  ground, 
where  mutual  understanding  and  mutual  ser- 
vice, under  the  leadership  of  the  one  Master 
of  Life,  will  bring  to  a practical  demonstra- 
tion the  brotherhood  of'  man. 

4.  There  are  many  phases  of  the  present 
industrial  conditions  in  the  United  States 
which  cry  aloud  for  immediate  remedy.  The 
Church,  which  has  obligations  to  every  sort 
of  interest  and  person  in  the  community,  must 
be  identified,  locally  and  nationally,  with  the 
whole  of  the  people  more  markedly  than  with 
any  part  of  them,  and  will  be  sensitive  to  every 
influence  which  affects  the  larger  constituency. 
It  is  not  the  kinds  of  men  that  should  com- 
mand the  Church’s  attention,  but  their  numeri- 
cal importance,  their  accessibility  and  their 
conditions  of  need. 


10 


Multitudes  are  deprived,  by  what  are  called 
economic  laws,  of  that  opportunity  to  which 
every  man  has  a right.  When  automatic 
movements  cause  injustice  and  disaster,  the 
autonomy  should  be  destroyed.  That  to  these 
impersonal  causes  are  added  the  cruelties  of 
greed,  the  heartlessness  of  ambition  and  the 
cold  indifference  of  corporate  selfishness,  every 
friend  of  his  fellow  must  with  grief  and 
shame  admit.  The  unemployed  are  an  “army.” 
The  “accidents”  of  factories  and  railroads 
crowd  our  institutions  and  tenements  with 
widows  and  orphans.  The  stress  of  reckless 
competition  which  loads  manhood  with  oppres- 
sive burdens,  levies  upon  the  frail  strength  of 
womanhood  and  turns  sunny  childhood  into 
drudgery,  dwarfs  our  stature,  saps  our  vital- 
ity, crowds  our  prisons,  vitiates  our  virtue 
and  darkens  our  old  age.  The  “homes”  of  the 
wage-earners  in  our  great  cities  are  an  indict- 
ment of  our  civilization.  The  meager  in- 
come, which  is  easily  reckoned  sufficient  by 
the  fortunate  who  are  not  forced  to  live  upon 
it,  is  without  warrant  of  reason.  The  help- 
lessness of  the  individual  worker,  the  swift 
changes  in  location  of  industrial  centers,  the 
constant  introduction  of  labor-saving  appli- 
ances, the  exactions  of  landlords,  add  un- 
certainty to  privation.  The  hazard  of  the 
mine,  the  monotony  of  the  shop,  the  poverty 
of  the  home,  the  sickness  of  the  family,  the 
closing  of  the  doors  of  higher  opportunity 
react  with  dreadful  precision  upon  tempera- 
ment and  mar  character. 

That  workingmen  should  organize  for  social 
and  industrial  betterment  belongs  to  the  nat- 
ural order.  The  effort  of  the  world’s  toilers 
to  secure  better  conditions  of  work  and  larger 
possession  of  themselves  is  welcome  evidence 
II 


of  a Divine  call  within  them  to  share  in  the 
higher  experiences  of  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life.  It  is  their  right,  as  it  is  the 
right  of  men  everywhere,  within  the  law,  to 
combine  for  common  ends.  Both  Church  and 
society  should  cease  to  talk  of  “conceding”  this 
right.  It  exists  in  the  nature  of  things.  We 
do  not  confer  it.  But  we  welcome  its  exer- 
cise. “The  vast  multitudes  of  working  people 
have  a vital  share  in  re-shaping  the  moral 
standards  of  the  time.  They  are  at  heart  pro- 
foundly moral  in  their  ideas  and  desires. 
Their  demands  are  an  influence  upon  the  con- 
science of  the  nation.”  Despite  the  errors  of 
individuals  and  groups,  the  faults  of  spirit, 
the  imperfection  of  methods,  and,  in  some  in- 
stances, most  deplorable  results,  organized 
labor  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  influence  not 
hostile  to  our  institutions,  but  potent  in  benefi- 
cence. When  guided  from  within  by  men 
of  far  sight  and  fair  spirit,  and  guarded  from 
without  by  restrictions  of  law  and  of  custom 
against  the  enthusiasms  which  work  injustice, 
the  self-interest  which  ignores  the  outsider,  or 
the  practices  which  create  industrial  havoc, 
trades  unionism  should  be  accepted  not  as  the 
Church’s  enemy,  but  as  the  Church’s  ally. 
The  Church  believes  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
as  a reality  in  this  world,  to  be  realized  by 
the  furtherance  of  social  justice;  it  may  not 
adopt  as  final  well-advertised  panaceas,  but 
it  intends  to  study  and  understand  fully  the 
situation.  “It  is  not  content  with  announcing 
abstract  principles,  but  means  to  work  defi- 
nitely and  steadily  toward  the  translation  of 
these  into  concrete  conduct.”  In  this  theory  of 
its  mission,  it  cannot  be  other  than  hospitable 
to  the  co-operation  of  any  individual  or  organ- 
ized force,  springing  from  the  very  heart  of 
12 


the  need  it  seeks  to  understand  and  meet.  It 
may  well  accept  as  its  chief  responsibility,  with- 
out abating  its  efforts  to  remove  immediate 
and  palpable  evils,  the  creation  of  that  atmos- 
phere of  fairness,  kindness  and  good  will,  in 
which  those  who  contend,  employer  and  em- 
ployee, capitalist  and  workingman,  may  find 
both  light  and  warmth,  and,  in  mutual  respect 
and  with  fraternal  feelings,  may  reach  the 
common  basis  of  understanding  which  will 
come  to  them  not  by  outward  pressure,  but 
from  the  inner  sense  of  brotherhood. 

Your  committee  makes  earnest  appeal  that 
this  Federal  Council,  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  give  utterance,  by  appropri- 
ate resolution,  to  its  convictions  touching  the 
industrial  conditions  which  concern  the  mul- 
titude to  whom  the  churches  are  appointed  to 
present  and  re-present  our  Lord;  and,  further, 
that  without  ignoring  points  of  sharp  diver- 
gence in  opinion,  without  endorsement  of  pro- 
ceedings at  times  strongly  condemned,  without 
commitment  to  a specific  programme,  this  Fed- 
eral Council  extend  to  all  the  toilers  of  our 
country  and  to  those  who  seek  to  organize  the 
workers  of  the  land  for  the  furtherance  of 
industrial  justice,  social  betterment  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  the  greetings  of  sym- 
pathy and  confidence  and  the  assurance  of 
good  will  and  co-operation  in  the  name  of 
Him  who  was  known  to  His  neighbors  as  the 
Son  of  the  Carpenter,  of  Him  whom  we  fol- 
low and  worship  as  the  Son  of  God. 

STATEMENT 

I.  This  Federal  Council  places  upon  record 
its  profound  belief  that  the  complex  problems 
of  modern  industry  can  be  interpreted  and 

13 


solved  only  by  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  final  authority 
in  the  social  as  in  the  individual  life.  Under 
this  authority  and  by  application  of  this  teach- 
ing the  contribution  to  human  welfare  by  the 
Church,  whatever  its  lapse  and  its  delays,  has 
been  incalculable.  Out  of  the  sacrifice  and 
fervor  of  the  centuries  has  come  a fund  of 
altruism  which  enriches  to-day  a thousand 
purposes  for  human  betterment,  some  of  which 
do  not  know  the  origin  of  their  impulse.  The 
interest  of  the  Church  in  men  is  neither  re- 
cent nor  artificial.  No  challenge  of  newly 
posted  sentries  can  exclude  it  from  the  ground 
where  are  struggle  and  privation  and  need.  It 
has  its  credentials  and  knows  the  watchword. 

2.  Christian  practice  has  not  always  harmon- 
ized with  Christian  principle.  By  the  force  of 
economic  law  and  of  social  custom  individual 
life  has  been,  at  times,  swerved  from  the 
straight  course,  and  the  organized  church  has 
not  always  spoken  when  it  should  have  borne 
witness,  and  its  plea  for  righteousness  has  not 
always  been  uttered  with  boldness.  Chris- 
tianity has  created  both  the  opportunity  and 
the  principles  of  life.  In  the  mighty  task  of 
putting  conscience  and  justice  and  love  into  a 
“Christian”  civilization,  the  Church,  with  all 
its  splendid  achievements,  has  sometimes 
faltered.  But  it  has  gone  farther  and  suf- 
fered more,  a thousandfold,  to  accomplish  this 
end  than  any  other  organized  force  the  world 
has  ever  known. 

3.  The  Church  now  confronts  the  most 
significant  crisis  and  the  greatest  opportunity 
of  its  long  career.  In  part  its  ideals  and 
principles  have  become  the  working  basis  of 
organizations  for  social  and  industrial  better- 
ment, which  do  not  accept  its  spiritual  leader- 

14 


ship  and  which  have  been  estranged  from  its 
fellowship.  We  believe,  not  for  its  own  sake, 
but  in  the  interest  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
the  Church  must  not  merely  acquiesce  in  the 
movements  outside  of  it  which  make  for  hu- 
man welfare,  but  must  demonstrate  not  by 
proclamation,  but  by  deeds,  its  primacy  among 
all  the  forces  which  seek  to  lift  the  plane  and 
better  the  conditions  of  human  life. 

This  Council,  therefore,  welcomes  this  first 
opportunity  on  behalf  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  the  United  States  officially  repre- 
sented, to  emphasize  convictions  which  have 
been  in  fragmentary  ways  already  expressed. 

4.  We  recognize  the  complex  nature  of  in- 
dustrial obligations,  affecting  employer  and 
employee,  society  and  government,  rich  and 
poor,  and  most  earnestly  counsel  tolerance, 
patience  and  mutual  confidence;  we  do  not 
defend  nor  excuse  wrongdoing  in  high  places 
or  in  low,  nor  purpose  to  adapt  the  ethical 
standards  of  the  Gospel  to  the  exigencies  of 
commerce  or  the  codes  of  a confused  in- 
dustrial system. 

5.  While  we  assert  the  natural  right  of  men 
— capitalists  and  workingmen  alike — to  organ- 
ize for  common  ends,  we  hold  that  the  organ- 
ization of  capital  or  the  organization  of  labor 
cannot  make  wrong  right,  or  right  wrong; 
that  essential  righteousness  is  not  determined 
by  numbers  either  of  dollars  or  of  men;  that 
the  Church  must  meet  social  bewilderment  by 
ethical  lucidity,  and  by  gentle  and  resolute 
(■‘“■stimony  to  the  truth  must  assert  for  the 
whole  Gospel  its  prerogative  as  the  test  of 
the  rightness  of  both  individual  and  collective 
conduct  everywhere. 

6.  We  regard  with  the  greatest  satisfaction 
the  effort  of  those  employers,  individual  and 

IS 


corporate,  who  have  shov/n  in  the  conduct 
of  their  business  a fraternal  spirit  and  a dis- 
position to  deal  justly  and  humanely  with 
their  employees  as  to  wages,  profit-sharing, 
welfare  work,  protection  against  accidents, 
sanitary  conditions  of  toil,  and  readiness  to 
submit  differences  to  arbitration.  We  record 
our  admiration  for  such  labor  organizations 
as  have  under  wise  leadership  throughout 
many  years,  by  patient  cultivation  of  just 
feelings  and  temperate  views  among  their 
members,  raised  the  efficiency  of  service,  set 
the  example  of  calmness  and  self-restraint  in 
conference  with  employers,  and  promoted  the 
welfare  not  only  of  the  men  of  their  own 
craft,  but  of  the  entire  body  of  workingmen. 

7.  In  such  organizations  is  the  proof  that 
the  fundamental  purposes  of  the  labor  move- 
ment are  ethical.  In  them  great  numbers  of 
men  of  all  nationalities  and  origins  are  being 
compacted  in  fellowship,  trained  in  mutual 
respect,  and  disciplined  in  virtues  which  be- 
long to  right  character  and  are  at  the  basis  of 
good  citizenship.  By  them  society  at  large  is 
benefited  in  securing  of  better  conditions  of 
work,  in  the  Americanization  of  our  immi- 
grant population,  and  in  the  educational  in- 
fluence of  the  multitudes  who  in  the  labor 
unions  find  their  chief,  sometimes  their  only, 
intellectual  stimulus. 

8.  We  note  as  omens  of  industrial  peace 
and  good  will  the  growth  of  a spirit  of  con- 
ciliation, and  of  the  practice  of  conference  and 
arbitration  in  settling  trade  disputes.  We 
trust  profoundly  that  these  methods  may  sup- 
plant those  of  the  strike  and  the  lockout,  the 
boycott  and  the  black  list.  Lawlessness  and 
violence  on  either  side  of  labor  controversies 
are  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  the  people 

16 


and  must  be  condemned  and  resisted.  We 
believe  no  better  opportunity  could  be  af- 
forded to  Christian  men,  employers  and  wage- 
earners  alike,  to  rebuke  the  superciliousness 
of  power  and  the  obstinacy  of  opinion  than 
by  asserting  and  illustrating  before  their  fel- 
lows in  labor  contests  the  Gospel  which  deals 
with  men  as  men  and  has  for  its  basis  of 
fraternity  the  Golden  Rule. 

We  commend  most  heartily  the  Societies 
and  Leagues  in  which  employers  and  working- 
men come  together  upon  a common  platform 
to  consider  the  problems  of  each  in  the  inter- 
est of  both,  and  we  urge  Christian  men  more 
freely  to  participate  in  such  movements  of 
conciliation.  We  express  our  gratitude  for  the 
evidences  that  in  ever  widening  circles  the  in- 
fluence of  the  agencies  established  by  some 
of  the  churches  is  distinctly  modifying  the 
attitude  of  the  workingmen  and  the  Church 
toward  each  other. 

9.  We  deem  it  the  duty  of  all  Christian 
people  to  concern  themselves  directly  with  cer- 
tain practical  industrial  problems.  To  us  it 
seems  that  the  churches  must  stand — 

For  equal  rights  and  complete  justice  for 
all  men  in  all  stations  of  life. 

For  the  right  of  all  men  to  the  opportunity 
for  self-maintenance,  a right  ever  to  be  wisely 
and  strongly  safeguarded  against  encroach- 
ments of  every  kind.  For  the  right  of  work- 
ers to  some  protection  against  the  hardships 
often  resulting  from  the  swift  crises  of  in- 
dustrial change. 

For  the  principle  of  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration in  industrial  dissensions. 

For  the  protection  of  the  worker  from  dan- 
gerous machinery,  occupational  disease,  in- 
juries and  mortality. 


17 


For  the  abolition  of  child  labor. 

For  such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  toil 
for  women  as  shall  safeguard  the  physical 
and  moral  health  of  the  community. 

For  the  suppression  of  the  “sweating 
system.” 

For  the  gradual  and  reasonable  reduction 
of  the  hours  of  labor  to  the  lowest  practicable 
point,  and  for  that  degree  of  leisure  for  all 
which  is  a condition  of  the  highest  human  life. 

For  a release  from  employment  one  day  in 
seven. 

For  a living  wage  as  a minimum  in  every 
industry,  and  for  the  highest  wage  that  each 
industry  can  afford. 

For  the  most  equitable  division  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  industry  that  can  ultimately  be  de- 
vised. 

For  suitable  provision  for  the  old  age  of 
the  workers  and  for  those  incapacitated  by 
injury. 

For  the  abatement  of  poverty. 

lo.  To  the  toilers  of  America  and  to  those 
who  by  organized  effort  are  seeking  to  lift  the 
crushing  burdens  of  the  poor,  and  to  reduce 
the  hardships  and  uphold  the  dignity  of  labor, 
this  Council  sends  the  greeting  of  human 
brotherhood  and  the  pledge  of  sympathy  and 
of  help  in  a cause  which  belongs  to  all  who 
follow  Christ. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

To  the  several  Christian  bodies  here  repre- 
sented the  Council  recommends : 

I.  That  the  churches  more  fully  recognize, 
through  their  pulpits,  press  and  public  as- 
semblies, the  great  work  of  social  reconstruc- 
tion which  is  now  in  progress,  the  character, 
i8 


extent  and  ethical  value  of  the  labor  move- 
ment, the  responsibilities  of  Christian  men  for 
the  formation  of  social  ideals,  and  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  churches  to  supply  the  spiritual 
motive  and  standards  for  all  movements 
which  aim  to  realize  in  the  modern  social 
order  the  fulfillment  of  the  second  great  com- 
mandment, “Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.” 

II.  That  the  study  of  existing  conditions  in 
the  industrial  world,  their  origin  and  outcome, 
be  more  definitely  enforced  as  an  immediate 
Christian  duty. 

That  to  this  end,  in  all  theological  sem- 
inaries, and,  so  far  as  practicable,  in  other 
schools  and  colleges,  there  be  established, 
wherever  they  do  not  now  exist,  courses  in 
economics,  sociology  and  the  social  teachings 
of  Jesus,  supplemented,  wherever  possible,  by 
investigation  of  concrete  social  facts,  and 

That  study  classes  and  reading  courses  on 
social  questions  be  instituted  in  connection 
with  the  churches  and  their  societies,  to  foster 
an  intelligent  appreciation  of  existing  condi- 
tions and  to  create  a public  sentiment  through 
which  relief  and  reform  may  be  more  effec- 
tively secured. 

III.  That  the  churches  with  quickened  zeal 
and  keener  appreciation,  through  their  pas- 
tors, lay  readers  and  members,  wherever  pos- 
sible, enter  into  sympathetic  and  fraternal 
relations  with  workingmen,  by  candid  public 
discussion  of  the  problems  which  especially 
concern  them,  by  advocating  their  cause  when 
just,  by  finding  the  neighborly  community  of 
interest  and  by  welcoming  them  and  their 
families  to  the  uses  and  privileges  of  the  local 
churches ; 

That  the  proper  general  authorities  of  the 

19 


aenominations  enaeavor  by  special  bureau  or 
department  to  collate  facts  and  mold  opinion 
in  the  interest  of  a better  understanding  be- 
tween the  Church  and  workingmen,  and  par- 
ticularly to  obtain  a more  accurate  and  general 
knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  trades  unionism, 
and  especially 

That  all  church  members  who,  either  as 
employers  or  as  members  of  trades  unions, 
are  more  specifically  Involved  in  the  practical 
problems  of  industry,  be  urged  to  accept  their 
unparalleled  opportunity  for  serving  the  cause 
of  Christ  and  humanity  by  acting,  in  His 
spirit,  as  mediators  between  opposing  forces  in 
our  modern  world  of  work. 

IV.  That  the  Church  in  general  not  only  aim 
to  socialize  its  message,  to  understand  the 
forces  which  now  dispute  its  supremacy,  to 
stay  by  the  people  in  the  effort  to  solve  with 
them  their  problems,  but  also  modify  its  own 
equipment  and  procedure  in  the  interest  of 
more  democratic  administration  and  larger 
social  activity; 

That  more  generally  in  its  buildings  pro- 
vision be  made  for  the  service  of  the  com- 
munity as  well  as  for  the  public  worship  of 
God; 

That  in  its  councils  of  direction  working- 
men be  welcomed  and  the  wisdom  of  the  poor 
be  more  freely  recognized; 

That  in  its  assemblies  artificial  distinctions 
be  rebuked  and  removed ; 

That  in  its  financial  management  the  com- 
mercial method,  if  it  exist,  be  replaced  by  the 
principles  of  the  Gospel  as  set  forth  in  the 
Epistle  of  James,  to  the  end  that  the  workers 
and  the  poor,  vastly  in  the  majority  in  the 
United  States,  may  ever  find  the  church  as 
homelike  as  the  union  hall,  more  attractive 


20 


than  the  saloon,  more  tolerant  of  their  aspira- 
tions than  the  political  club,  more  significant 
of  the  best  which  in  heart  and  life  they  seek 
than  any  other  organization  or  institution 
which  claims  to  open  to  them  opportunity  or 
ventures  to  offer  them  incentives  to  the  better 
life. 

V.  That  the  Church  fail  not  to  emphasize 
its  own  relation,  throughout  the  centuries  and 
in  the  life  of  the  world  to-day,  to  the  mighty 
movements  which  make  'for  the  betterment  of 
social  and  industrial  conditions; 

That  the  attention  of  workingmen  and  of 
the  churches  alike  be  called  to  these  facts: 
That  the  institution  of  a day  of  rest  secured 
for  the  toilers  of  Christendom  by  the  very 
charter  of  the  Church  has  been  defended  on 
their  behalf  by  it  through  the  centuries; 

That  the  streams  of  philanthropy  which 
supply  a thousand  needs  have  their  springs, 
for  the  most  part,  in  Christian  devotion; 

That  the  fundamental  rights  of  man  upon 
which  rest  the  pillars  of  this  mighty  group  of 
commonwealths  are  a heritage  from  the  con- 
science and  consecration  of  men  who  acknowl- 
edged Jesus  Christ  as  Master; 

That  the  free  ministrations  to  the  com- 
munity on  the  part  of  tens  of  thousands  of 
churches  attest  the  purpose  of  the  followers 
of  Christ; 

That  the  Church,  while  it  may  not  have  ac- 
cepted the  task  of  announcing  an  industrial 
programme,  is  at  heart  eager  with  the  im- 
pulses of  service  and  is  more  than  ever  ready 
to  express  the  spirit  of  its  Lord; 

That  in  the  quest  for  the  forces  by  which 
the  larger  hopes  of  the  workingmen  of  Amer- 
ica may  be  most  speedily  and  fully  realized, 
the  leaders  of  the  industrial  world  can  better 


21 


afford  to  lose  all  others  than  those  which  are 
to-day  and  have  been  for  nearly  two  thousand 
years  at  work  in  the  faith,  the  motive  and 
the  devotion  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Your  committee  further  recommends: 

That  this  Federal  Council  instruct  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  to  organize  under  such 
plan  as  it  may  in  its  discretion  find  expedient, 
a Commission  on  The  Church  and  Social  Ser- 
vice, representative  of  the  churches  allied  in 
this  Council,  and  of  the  various  industrial  in- 
terests, said  Commission  to  co-operate  with 
similar  church  organizations  already  in  opera- 
tion, to  study  social  conditions  and  ascertain 
the  essential  facts,  to  act  for  the  Council, 
under  such  restrictions  as  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, to  which  it  shall  from  time  to  time 
report,  may  determine,  and  in  general,  to 
afford  by  its  action  and  utterance  an  expres- 
sion of  the  purpose  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  the  United  States,  to  recognize  the  import 
of  present  social  movements  and  industrial 
conditions,  and  to  co-operate  in  all  practicable 
ways  to  promote  in  the  churches  the  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  and  practice  of  Social  Ser- 
vice and  especially  to  secure  a better  under- 
standing and  a more  natural  relationship  be- 
tween workingmen  and  the  Church. 

We  do  not  forget  that  the  strength  of  the 
Church  is  not  in  a programme,  but  in  a spirit. 
To  it  is  not  given  the  function  of  the  school, 
of  the  legislature,  of  the  court,  but  one  deeper 
and  broader,  the  revelation  of  the  ethical  and 
practical  values  of  a spiritual  faith.  The 
Church  does  not  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
social  order;  it  discloses  them.  They  are 
already  laid.  Ours  is  the  blame  if  upon  them 
we  have  allowed  rubbish  to  gather,  or  let 
others  build  wood,  hay,  stubble.  Instead  of  our- 
22 


selves  lifting  to  the  light  the  splendor  of  the 
gold,  silver,  precious  stones.  The  Church 
must  witness  to  the  truths  which  should 
shape  industrial  relations,  and  strive  to  create 
the  spirit  of  brotherhood  in  which  alone  those 
truths  become  operative.  It  must  give  itself 
fearlessly  and  passionately  to  the  furtherance 
of  all  reforms  by  which  it  believes  that  the 
weak  may  be  protected,  the  unscrupulous  re- 
strained, injustice  abolished,  equality  of  op- 
portunity secured  and  wholesome  conditions 
of  life  established.  Nothing  that  concerns 
human  life,  can  be  alien  to  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Its  privilege  and  its  task  are  meas- 
ured by  the  sympathy,  the  love,  the  sacrifice 
of  its  Lord.  It  is  here  to  represent  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  it  speak  out  what  is  in  its  heart ! 
Once  again  in  the  spirit  of  the  Nazarene  let  it 
take  from  the  hand  of  tradition  the  sacred 
roll  and  read  so  that  everywhere  the  waiting 
millions  may  hear: 

“The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because 
he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  poor,  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted, to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captive, 
and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set 
at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.” 

May  the  Church  dare  to  say  to  the  multi- 
tude, “This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in 
your  ears.” 


23 


Commi£f£iion  on  tlje  Cf)urct)  anb 
Social  ^erbice 


REV.  JOSIAH  STRONG,  Chairman 


SECRETARIAL  COUNCIL 

Rev.  Henry  A.  Atkinson 
14  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

Rev.  Samuel  Z.  Batten 
1701  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Rev.  Frank  M.  Crouch 
281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York 

Rev.  Charles  O.  Gill 
Hartland,  Vt. 

Rev.  Harry  F.  Ward 
2512  Park  Place,  Evanston,  Illinois 

Rev.  Charles  S.  Macfarland 
105  East  22d  Street,  New  York 


NO.  7 


BURR  PRINTING  HOUSE 
NEW  YORK,  N Y. 


